13
Aug

What Are PVDF Industrial Coatings?

PVDF coatings are one of the most common types of industrial coatings in use today. This type of coating is created by polymerizing vinylidenedifluoride. It’s a specialty plastic that belongs to the family of fluoropolymers and is used in applications that require high levels of purity and strength, as well as those that require excellent resistance to acids, solvents, bases, and heat. PVDF has a fairly low melting point, which can be beneficial as well in certain applications, although it does mean that this material is not properly suited for some applications.

PVDF coatings are sold under several brand names, including Kynar, Hylar, and Solef, and commonly used within the chemical processing industry.

Forms of PVDF Coatings

This type of coating is less expensive than many other types of fluoropolymer coatings, and it is also less dense. It comes in pipes, tubes, sheets, plates, and tubing. You can also find it in a form that’s perfect for use of wire insulation and in a closed cell foam. It can be applied via injection, molding, of welding.

Common Applications for PVDF Coatings

PVDF coatings are perfect for processing chemicals because they do not react with the majority of solvents and chemicals. In addition, they offer excellent resistance to abrasions and wear, high dielectric strength, are resistant to weathering, and can extinguish themselves in the case of a fire. They also do not produce much smoke if there is a fire. Other properties of PVDF include good color retention and gloss and strong piezoelectricity.

In addition to the chemical industry, there are also other common applications for PVDF coatings. These include the defense industry, medical industry, and semiconductor industry. In addition, PVDF coatings are often used in the manufacture of lithium ion batteries. In this industry, the material is used as a binder material when producing composite electrodes. PVDF is also a great conductive additive.

The material is also commonly used in the roofing or building industry. You’ll find it in many famous buildings all over the world, including Malaysia’s Petronas Towers and Taiwan’s Taipei 101. In addition, it’s used within the biomedical sciences to create artificial membranes. Since the material resists solvents, it’s easy to strip PVDF membranes and reuse them while looking at other proteins.

Another common use of PVDF is within the fishing industry, where it is used in the manufacture of some specialty fishing lines. It works better than nylon because it’s more difficult for fish to see. Also the surface of the materials is harder, so it resists fish teeth and abrasion better than nylon. In addition, it’s denser, so lines made of this material will sink into the water more quickly.

As you can see, PVDF is an important material used throughout many common industries. It’s important to consult with a coating professional to determine if this particular type of coating is right for your needs. There is a seemingly endless list of types of coatings, and they all have slightly different properties and characteristics, so you should consult with someone who works with all of these coatings on a regular basis and can engineer the appropriate coating for your needs.

Toefco is a certified applicator of PVDF coatings and other common industrial coatings. The experts at Toefco will not only help figure out which type of coating is right for your job, but they will also build it from scratch. They call themselves the “coating customizers” because they have built a reputation around engineering coatings that perfectly suit the specifications provided by their customers. Call Toefco today for assistance with all of your PVDF coating needs.